What a summer we had! It started with our trip to visit Great Grandma and much of our extended family in MD and WV and tour Washington, DC (a dream of ours for several years). When we arrived home, the boys spent a few days at Jr. Ranger Camp before swimming lessons started up. Stella and I took another cake decorating class, and she began piano lessons. Leo continued practicing his tennis and started up guitar lessons. Rus finished up baseball season and became a strong swimmer. Both he and Tert thoroughly enjoyed our library's reading program with a hands-on science theme and won cool prizes (including an electronics kit and a Kindle!!). Tert became my gardening assistant, watering our plants and bringing in an abundant harvest of tomatoes which I turned into the most delicious sauce with fresh herbs. Little Lux, who just learned to walk, loves finding my stashes of ripe tomatoes. He eats them like an apples and spreads a trail of juicy, seedy pulp across my floor. Good thing he's so darn cute...
During the final week of summer break, Stella delighted us with her performance of "The Little Mermaid Junior," through The Frankin Area Children's Theater. She was a singing, dancing Mermaid Sister and earned some money assisting the younger actors as one of their teen interns. I'm sure that she was one of their most experienced teens in the childcare department! We rounded off summer break with an elegant tea party with friends from church (unfortunately the our camera was lost in the midst of cake-eating, crafting and face painting, so we don't have any pictures to share).
We are now transitioning to a packed school schedule, rounded out with tennis lessons, baseball, youth group, music lessons, field trips, and Destination Imagination right around the corner. It feels something like "fight or flight" most days to keep up with teaching 10th, 8th, 4th, 1st grade and Pre-K with a wily one year old on the loose. I don't remember my other toddlers ripping quite so many library books, tipping trash cans, emptying dresser drawers, paddling in the toilet, breaking glass jars in the pantry closet, sampling dog food, climbing windowsills, and scaring the life out of me with choking hazards... His one redeeming quality is a passion for minimizing our clutter. He's decided that we have an overabundance of toys, remotes, silverware, and phones and eagerly throws them away for us. I'm guessing that's where Stella's camera and all of our summer pictures went... :(
Today we are celebrating Leo's 13th birthday with our traditional birthday brunch with Grandma and Grandpa Z., a rocket launch at the park (Leo made the rockets), target shooting with his grandpa and dad, dinner out with Stephen, and homemade chocolate tall cake with Uncle Adam, Aunt Steph, and Carter. :) We packed as much fun into his special day as possible. It's hard to believe that my firstborn son is a teenager. It brings me so much joy to see his spiritual sensitivity, thoughtfulness toward others, sense of humor, attention to detail, and remarkable love for his siblings. He is the best big brother I know and a delightful son. I think he takes after his dad who worked until 3:00 this morning so he could spend such a special birthday with him. :)
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